Raymond W. Copson is an independent scholar specializing in African affairs and U.S. relations with Africa. He teaches at the George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs and is editor of the Online Africa Policy Forum at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Until 2005, he worked at the Congressional Research Service of the US Library of Congress. He has previously lectured in international relations at the University of Nairobi, Kenya, and the University of Ibadan, Nigeria.